You Hungry?

"The whole seven days in here ended with no clue whatsoever. Damn those old bastards." Seth cussed as he walked out of the library.

The old bastards he referred to were the elder dragons. Dragons even older than his father who was the dragon emperor. They were a law body and had made a law that rebuked dragons from actively seeking humans. Now, Seth was reaping the result of their rules.

If he had visited one human residence in the past, it would've been easier to navigate through their history.

Today was his final day of serving punishment in the library and it just ended.

Seth exited the huge building that contained just as many books as almost all the major libraries put together. The only exception is the royal library.

"Man, I'm hungry." He rubbed his stomach which didn't seem to stop rumbling.

He didn't waste time as he headed for the cafeteria without hesitation. Only three cafeterias existed in the institute and one was close to the library.

"A plate of chicken soup, a plate of pasta, a plate of porridge, and two cups of milk." Seth stated his order to the lady in charge who began attending to him almost immediately.

"That'll be ten silver coins." She stated, handing a tray containing Seth's order to him.

He always went around carrying gold coins. Seth despised holding silver ones, feeling it made him look like a low-class noble.

That was a lie. He only did so because he had more than enough. He brought out a good coin and handed it to the lady. "I'll get something with the change later."

A single gold coin was equal to twenty silver ones so he paid for twice as much food.

"I'll keep it in the tabs." She replied as she took out a book.

"Well, thank you." Seth walked away to the closest available table. Since it was already evening, the cafeteria was getting full.

He sat down and dug right into the food. His reason for eating here when he had been doing so in his private training room?

It was simple. After Raiden's mother's treatment five days ago, she had been continuously showing better symptoms of recovery and the doctors said his mother would need his presence when she woke.

Raiden came back and after explaining to the principal and Seth together, he received permission to take a leave.

Now, Seth had every evening to himself since the previous day.

"Please, that's the only one with me!" Seth's attention was caught by a scene playing a few meters to his side.

Two boys sat side by side with a smaller boy between them.

One of them had his arm around the smaller boy's shoulder as he spoke to him calmly. The way they sat, anyone would think they were friends as they even had smiles on their faces.

"Come on. Don't make it seem like we're taking your life." One of them, a boy with spiky black hair and eyes and height slightly taller than Seth spoke to the young boy.

Seth had gotten the opportunity to observe every Year One class at least twice so he facially knew many of them. He always made sure to remember those that struck him a certain way. This boy was one of such people as Seth immediately remembered his face.

"The month still has a week before it's over and this is all I have to survive for the week. You're essentially killing me if you take it." The boy said. His voice was also low afraid to draw the attention of others. He knew the repercussions from experience.

"Come on… a few days of hunger wouldn't kill you. You'll get your new allowance before you die." The other boy spoke. He had a scar on his left cheek that looked like a claw mark.

"Now, hand it over. Your seniors are hungry and it would be nice to get something to eat if you're kind enough to give it to us." Although he was speaking, he had already taken the coin from the smaller student.

Seth already had a hunch but this now confirmed it. These were Year Two students using their level to extort money from the younger and weaker students.

None of this concerned him, so he simply ignored it. His heightened senses turned away from the scene playing out beside him.

"Well then… Thank you for your kind act." The two boys rose and walked away toward the counter, leaving the student with his head down.

Seeing the dejected look on his face, Seth couldn't ignore it any longer.

With his tray of half-finished food, he rose and headed to the boy's table.

"Hey, I didn't mean to, but I overheard everything that happened. Sorry, I couldn't do a thing since they were seniors." Oddly, Seth began a conversation with the boy.

"..."

No reply.

'I should've minded my business but now it's too late.' Seth scratched his head awkwardly.

"Excuse me…" Seth spoke again, this time a little louder than he previously did.

The boy jerked up from the sudden voice. "Sorry. I was just lost in thoughts." He replied after seeing Seth sitting opposite him.

"It's fine. I'm sorry but I have a very sensitive ear so I picked up on what just happened even though I didn't mean to. I just wanted to apologize for what those guys did. I couldn't do a thing since they were seniors." Seth said while taking a spoon from his porridge, looking at how this young boy would react.

Fair enough, as Seth gulped down the food, the boy gulped down his saliva.

"You hungry?" Seth asked.

"Uhmm… no." The boy said, shaking his head.

"Wait a minute." Seth stood up and walked back to the counter.

When he returned, he had a tray in his hand. It contained the same items in his previous tray.

"Here you go." Seth placed it in front of the boy.

"B… but I said I'm…" He opened his mouth to speak but Seth wouldn't allow him.

"Uhk." Seth shoved a spoon into his mouth.

"There's no poison so eat first and we'll talk after you're done. If you're too eager to speak, we can also do that while you eat." Seth walked back to his seat facing the boy.

"What's your name though?" He asked the moment he sat down. "I'm Seth. Seth Samiel." Seth introduced himself before the boy even opened his mouth to answer.

"Woahhh…" The boy said in awe. Obviously, he had some familiarity with the name.

No, he didn't know Seth personally. He just had knowledge of the previous Samiels that had appeared in the institute. The current one was even a council member and leader of a faction.

Seeing this new person introduce himself as another Samiel, the young student was awed.

"I'm Mekhel." The boy said with eyes that had already recovered from the devastating blow dealt to him just now.

'He's not speaking about his family's name. He's either from a lower ranking one or has a reason for hiding it.' Seth concluded on his own.

"I see. Well, I was hoping I could help..." At this moment, they were interrupted.

Thud!